


Strike the Match

by Gothams_Only_Wolf



Series: Triad Alliance [1]
Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gangsters, Chinese Triad, French Mafia, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, German mafia, Multi, Nonbinary Character, japanese Yakuza
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-08
Updated: 2018-12-06
Packaged: 2019-08-20 23:18:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16564994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gothams_Only_Wolf/pseuds/Gothams_Only_Wolf
Summary: Tendo stumbles over the most beautiful person he's ever met in the rain. The Dragon in him rises to meet a Monarch that he's willing to follow to the ends of the earth.





	1. A Kindness Paid Forward

**Author's Note:**

  * For [seaweedredandbrown](https://archiveofourown.org/users/seaweedredandbrown/gifts).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my excuse to stuff Hermann into as many pretty dresses/outfits as I like and have an admiring audience to boot. 
> 
> Enjoy~

* * *

Tendo appreciated beauty in its many forms, including people. 

But this? 

_This_ was a tragedy even his Yeye couldn't have taken for much longer and the man loved wuxia films. 

A person was sobbing—tears mixed with the rain and their sorrow wholeheartedly wretched—collapsed in a moment of anguish. A cane, near to them, had rolled close to the gutter. Tendo clucked his tongue, scooped up both cane and person and settled them in the server's station. 

"Ah, sir-" 

"I'll handle whatever bill there may be." Tendo murmured. "Right now, I don't think they're up to any sort of questioning." He fished out enough to cover the cost and a tip for the server before he turned to the still-sobbing person. "Might I know the name of such a tired angel?" 

"A-HIC!-Angel I am not, sir." 

"Missing only the wings, I think, and hating the taste of your own heart. I'm Tendo, Tendo Choi. You are...?" He soothed, hands placed on either side of slender knees. 

"None of your business and I'm to settle my bill-" 

"Already done, angel. Do you need me to call someone?" He sighed as he removed himself. 

"Why do you _care_?" came the irritable response, lashing out in anger now. 

"Because I can and because there is unkindness enough in the way of the world." Tendo offered wryly as he sat down on the floor in his suit, taking off his jacket with a careless flick upwards to the coat hanger. He rolled up his sleeves and tilted his right arm just so. The stifled gasp was all he needed to continue. "Many years ago, angel, but I had wished only for a kindness done for me. I'm paying it forward." 

"... Someone I held dear proposed to me." 

"Ah." 

"He left me standing in the alcove to pay and... I fear his offer was made in jest or as retribution. Angel I am not, sir, though you'll pardon the expression, when I am deformed and demonized for things beyond my control." The cutting remarks had Tendo shaking his head. "You... do not agree." 

"Not when you're directing that sword-sharp tongue at yourself, angel." He paused, tilted his head back on the cushion and murmured, "Not an angel, maybe, but perhaps one of the Fair Folk left a little too long in the mortal plane." 

"... It's Hermann, by the way, Hermann Gottlieb." 

Heir to the Gottleib enterprise and one of his worst rivals to date. 

Oh, but fortune had smiled upon the Dragon and he'd take that advantage with both hands, thank you very much.

* * *

Gottlieb Sr.'s temper had earned him the rightful name Beserker but the cold mantle emanating off the man today was beyond fury. 

"I rarely ask for favors I cannot repay." Lars murmured at the start of the closed meeting. 

"Favor must be personal then, Beserker." Raleigh commented with an artfully risen brow. In a room full of dangerous people, civility—at least the veneer they employed—was a necessity. 

"It is, Rougeoyant. My heir apparent desires no revenge but I cannot allow the injustice to be left as it currently stands. Do you understand?" 

"I do. Would not one of your own suit?" Mako questioned. 

"My own would react too violently, Swordsmith, to be of much use." Lars grimaced, motioning to them. 

"Hence the meeting, Beserker." Tendo snorted dryly. "I'll take it, if it involves who I think it does." 

"If you called them angel, then yes, I suppose it would, Dragon." 

"Wonderful. I'll get Crimson Typhoon on the matter and it will be settled most agreeably." He allowed. 

"What do you desire in repayment?" However aggressive his name turned out to be, Lars was no fool and shrewd enough to see past Tendo's smile. 

"Time with the little Fae, uninterrupted and unmonitored. No harm will come but I find myself intrigued by the company." He murmured, fingers tracing over his rosary in deep contemplation. "Nothing nefarious, Beserker, I promise. Fae is to be one of us but perhaps a better relationship can be built." 

"Dragon is often wise but this leaves Rougeoyant and myself at a disadvantage." 

"True enough but Valkyrie and Sigmund have requested help in other endeavors." 

"I suppose that settles it." 

"Certainly."

* * *

The lithe form of Hermann Gottlieb settled into a booth, long legs stretched out at the two-seater before the window. The cane sat against the frame, the design of it speaking of other uses. 

Tendo entered, ordered coffee so strong the barista looked at him in horror and he smiled winningly when it was given to him after payment. He meandered over to the younger Gottlieb and said, "Y'know, most Fae avoid iron." 

"Excuse-Ah. Are you going to continue calling me that or use my name, since you know it already?" The sharp tongue cut at Tendo but he only smiled. 

"Darling is too familiar and I don't want to assume gender. So, Fae it is." 

"Sit down, you're drawing every eye in this place." Hermann hissed. 

"It might be you." 

"Nonsense." The flush, though, told Tendo what he wanted to know. Flattery would work on this Gottlieb. "Mr... Choi, was it?" 

"Tendo, please. The only Mr. Choi I know is retired and plays a mean game of mahjong." He chuckled before he sobered and asked, "Did the roommate show back up?" 

"... No and all of his things were gone the following morning, his dog included. I don't know whether to be grateful or hate him all the more." came the sour response. 

"I'll drop the pet names, if it makes you uncomfortable." He mentioned as he stirred in creamer out of habit around other people. He preferred it black but knew that most people didn't understand. 

"No, I... I rather like them." 

"Listen, I hate lying and I'm going to be upfront with you; I work with your Father." Tendo sighed, watching as Hermann's relaxed form tightened up. "I didn't know when I scooped you up. I still would have helped you if you'd never given me your name." 

At that, Hermann's gaze ran over the tattoo visible above his starched collar. 

"Father meddles too much in my life but not in the case of the roommate, for which I am eternally grateful. Do you partake in the same activities?" 

"Mm, we're... reluctant allies, you could say. We don't cross paths overly much." 

"In that case, consider me an aquaintence. My pronouns are zhe and zher; nonbinary and I do appreciate you not assuming." Hermann sighed. 

"Can I work my way up to more?" Tendo prodded gently. 

"As friends, yes, but nothing more." 

It was a start, he thought as he drank his coffee. 

A foot wedged in the door was still a foot in the door; he'd have to take it slow but something told him Hermann Gottlieb was entirely worth it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment, complain, ect.


	2. Of Things Unspoken and Unseen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've gotta be careful with my hands but i thought I'd give you lot the next chapter of this! 
> 
> Enjoy~

* * *

Their path to friendship was, at times, a rocky one. Tendo didn't like seeing Hermann hurt, Hermann scolded him when he showed up covered in bruises and both of them would tend to the other, sometimes with anger to their movements. 

Schedules conflicted or didn't match up or Tendo's obligations to the Triad ran roughshod over his carefully laid plans. 

Yet here they were, two years later, laying on a cushioned truck-bed staring at the stars. He was listening to Hermann list them off, Tendo turning to face Hermann and smiling as zhe stopped mid-gesture. 

"What? Do I have something on my face?" 

"Just thinking about serendipity," he murmured. 

"Do you remember when I said just friends?" Hermann inquired, shuffling so that zhe was laying on zher good side to see Tendo. 

"I do," he replied. 

"How you said you hating lying?" 

"Yes." 

"I... I don't like men's clothes." Tendo waited patiently, knowing that zhe had more to say. "Would you mind if I wore skirts? If-If we were more than we are now?" 

"Little Fae, are you asking me out?" He sat up on his elbows to look at a now furiously blushing Hermann. 

"Yes." Hermann swallowed sharply, the sound loud in the sudden quiet. 

"If I say yes, does that mean I can get you any clothing you desire?" He hummed, laughing when Hermann's hands tangled in his shirt and drew him in for a kiss. 

"Hmm, Dragon I may be but there was some fire in that kiss, pretty Fae." Hermann nipped him for that but soothed it afterwards with a chaste peck. "Only teasing, my Fae, only teasing."

The first time Hermann wore a skirt in his apartment, Tendo back zhe into the counter and purred, "How is it that you grow in beauty each time I see you?" 

Zhe flushed, more than the high-spots that usually appeared and whispered, "That's your imagination, Tendo." 

"Mmm, I think not. May I show you how I see you? Worship every bit of you as completely as I can?" 

"You want...?" 

"No, no, not like that. That is for when you are ready. I was thinking more... verbal caresses to match physical touch." 

"... And if it turns to that?" 

"Your choice, my Fae. In my bed, there are only the willing."

* * *

The rise and fall of the birdcage of a bare chest has Tendo's fingers tracing characters of his third language, because Chinese was not his first nor even his second, writing even sweeter phrases than he'd spoken in English. 

They'd only managed a third of Tendo's list really. Hermann had initiated zher own delightfully stumbling list, complete with lingering touches. It hadn't gone below the waist and it didn't have to. 

He grinned against Hermann's shoulder, the pale green skirt unmarred by thier activities because it had been rucked up. 

"Tendo?" 

"Hmm," 

"Do you think that you could refrain from such," Hermann paused and Tendo knew what zhe was about to say next. "wonderful activities when I have a skirt on?" 

"Of course. I don't want you to _stop_ wearing them." 

Hermann sighed and then, "There is a dress that I saw; perhaps your tailor might like to emulate it." Zhe pulled up a glorious, gauzy creation that fit zhe to a T. 

"'Emulate?'" 

"The dress is incredibly expensive. I am aware that you are well-off, as is my Father, but that does not excuse excesses in the form of clothing over a thousand dollars." 

"Excesses, hmm?" He laughed into Hermann's neck, already plotting to contact the designer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment, complain, ect.


End file.
